August is the ideal month to make the most of the outdoors, and here
are some books to guide your family on its way.

If
a walk in the woods is in your plans, author-illustrator and nature
enthusiast Jim Arnosky’s Wild Tracks!: A Guide to Nature’s
Footprints (this veteran’s 100th book) turns a walk into
an expedition. Detailed full-page paintings and delicate pencil sketches
of tracks accompany a few paragraphs about common animals’ behaviors.
Complete with four foldouts of additional life-sized animal prints,
this book is a great natural history resource. (9–12 years)

Should
your trail lead toward the water instead of the woods, Trout Are
Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre is a simple but elegant introduction
to nature’s food chain. Kate Endle’s mixed-media collages
show the process, from the dead leaves that feed bacteria to the trout
that feed people and bears. This environmentally minded book ends with
suggestions about what readers can do to protect trout and streams.
(4–8 years)

According
to Sarah C. Campbell, the author of Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator,
kids don’t have to leave their yards to observe wildlife in action.
With a close-up photograph on each page, the minimal text begins with
the carnivorous wolfsnail waking up hungry, then goes on to document
the predator’s attack on and meal of a smaller snail, ending with
the satisfied wolfsnail ready to go to sleep again. (4–8 years)

For
older readers there’s John Porcellino’s Thoreau at Walden.
This sophisticated graphic novel–format interpretation of Henry
David Thoreau’s classic Walden is full of the nineteenth-century
naturalist’s introspective wisdom and natural-world insights.
Porcellino’s uncluttered tan-and-white drawings outlined in black
are surprisingly effective at illustrating Thoreau’s “experiment
in living.” “You only need sit still long enough in some
attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves
to you.” (10–14 years)

—Chelsey Philpot

Books
for your space chimps

In
Dan McCann and Nathan Hale’s Balloon on the Moon (5–8
years), Jake just does what any good big brother would do when toddler
Will lets go of his balloon: he goes to the moon to retrieve it. Tethered
by a degree of astronautical realism, this space adventure has something
for big and little brothers alike. In Space Boy (3–6
years), author-illustrator Leo Landry gives us a boy who only wants
to escape his baby sister — and it turns out the moon is good
for that, too. Where Nathan Hale’s pictures for Balloon on
the Moon are all bouncy excitement, Landry uses a gentler line
and palette to make his book a good choice for bedtime.

Middle-grade
readers will enjoy P. B. Kerr’s One Small Step, a propulsive
tale of a thirteen-year-old boy who gets to fly to the moon —
with a pair of chimps who know more than they’re saying. Fans
of such boy-book writers as Ben Mikaelsen and Will Hobbs will appreciate
the suspense and realism of the adventure: Kerr makes it all seem possible.
(9–12 years)

For
some kids, only the facts will do. Meghan McCarthy excels at picture
book nonfiction, and her Astronaut Handbook explains clearly
and invitingly just how astronauts get trained, what they do, and what
they wear. She’s even clear on the drawbacks: “It’s
best to like small spaces.” Warm and well-detailed pictures demonstrate
that the career is open to all regardless of gender or race. (5–8
years)

Older
space fans will appreciate Life on Earth — and Beyond: An
Astrobiologist’s Quest by Pamela S. Turner (10–14 years).
This nonfiction account with plenty of photographs features scientist
Chris McKay, who looks for extraterrestrial life right here on earth.
Since places such as Antarctica and Chile’s Atacama Desert have
climatic and geological resemblance to conditions on such planets as
Mars, McKay and other scientists have a closer-to-home laboratory for
examining what conditions are required for life. Ellen Jackson and Nic
Bishop’s Looking for Life in the Universe: The Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence (9–12 years), is a photo-essay
about scientist Jill Tarter, whose work inspired Carl Sagan’s
(and Jodie Foster’s) Contact.

—Roger Sutton

One
question for five writers
(and an editor)

Research tells us that children whose parents are readers are more likely
to be readers themselves. The Freakonomics guys will tell you
the reason for this is genetic; others will tell you that the presence
of books in the home, and the example of adults finding pleasure in print,
is what does it. Nature? Nurture? Who cares? The point is that any directive
to “go read!” is more likely to be met with success if kids
can see that you — grownups — do it, too.

With
that in mind, I asked some of my writer friends what books they’re
currently into for their off-the-clock summer reading. Jon Scieszka,
our National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, is reading
lots of guy books, including the adult title Rant by Chuck
Palahniuk, Cory Doctorow’s YA novel Little Brother (a
recommendation I enthusiastically second), and books in the Sterling
Point series, a collection of boy-friendly biographies and historical
accounts, many reissued from the 1950s and 1960s Random House Landmark
imprint fondly remembered by baby-boomers.

Susan
Cooper, author of the Dark Is Rising fantasy sequence, complains that
her life is “a continuous unsuccessful attempt to Catch Up.”
She just finished Claire Tomalin’s biography of Thomas Hardy (“which
cast me down rather”) and is reading Stephen Greenblatt’s
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. And
do try Cooper’s own King of Shadows, a mysterious time-slip
story in which a contemporary boy finds himself in the company of the
Bard.

E-mailing
from Switzerland (the lucky duck), young adult novelist Coe Booth, author
of Tyrell and this fall’s Kendra, writes that
she just finished reading Alive and Well in Prague, New York
by Daphne Grab. “The story is honest and emotional, and the main
character Matisse is funny and snarky. It's a great book.” And
now, in preparation for writing a sequel to Tyrell she’s
been reading a clutch of other what-happened-next YA novels, starting
with Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s The Off Season, sequel
to Dairy Queen, both of which put together two things rarely
combined in contemporary teen literature: girls and sports.

Both Kevin Henkes, author most recently of the middle-grade novel Bird
Lake Moon, and his editor at Greenwillow Books, Virginia Duncan,
are enjoying Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth. Kevin's
also reading Forster’s Howard’s End and two novels
by John Williams, Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing.
Virginia is into Leonard Marcus's history of children's book publishing,
Minders of Make-Believe, David Wroblewski’s The Story
of Edgar Sawtelle, and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight.
(What’s the game about one-of-these-is-not-like-the-other?)

Walter
Dean Myers is down among the Romans (Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations)
and Spaniards (Federico García Lorca and Juan Ramón Jiménez,
in a translation of their poetry by Robert Bly). Walter writes, “Juan
Ramón Jiménez’s book, Platero and I, is
my favorite book of all time. When I grow up I want to be Jiménez.”

And I continue, slowly and deliberately, through the audio edition
of Middlemarch (read brilliantly by Kate Reading), a couple
of Guido Brunetti mysteries by Donna Leon, who makes me want to go to
Venice and EAT, and to counteract the heat, Colin Thubron’s In
Siberia. And now I see I have a whole new raft of recommendations
— here’s hoping you’ve found something you like, too.

—Roger Sutton

The
next chapter

When we talk about chapter books, what we really mean are first
chapter books, a step up in difficulty from easy readers. It’s
not as if a child’s reading progresses in an unbroken upward line
from picture books to young adult novels — there are some days
when you want to keep things simple and others when you feel like a
challenge, and even within the chapter book genre there are plenty of
both.

Betty
Hicks’s new Gym Shorts series keeps it simple. Each book runs
sixty-four pages and is generously illustrated with sophisticated but
funny line-and-wash drawings by Adam McCauley. The series is about a
group of sports-minded friends; each entry focuses on one kid and his
or her particular athletic challenge. Basketball nut Henry, in Basketball
Bats, has to lead his friends to victory in a game against some
bigger, tougher kids; Goose, in Goof-Off Goalie, learns that
being a soccer goalie involves far more than waiting for the ball. The
books feature lots of game-play and easy banter among the friends, and
each has a satisfying story to tell. (6–9 years)

Alvin
Ho is Lenore Look’s newest chapter book hero, following her success
in the genre with Ruby Lu, Brave and True and Ruby Lu,
Empress of Everything. All three books are at the upper end of
chapter books, direct descendants of Beverly Cleary’s school-and-family
comedies about Beezus, Ramona, and Henry. Alvin Ho: Allergic to
Girls, School, and Other Scary Things is 172 pages about a boy
who thinks he’s afraid of everything. He’s especially apprehensive
about school, where he’s now starting second grade after uttering
Not One Word in kindergarten and first grade. It is also a comedy, with
Alvin’s attempts to negotiate the world despite his fears, making
him sound like a short David Sedaris. Let’s hope Lenore Look has
plans for a sequel. (8–10 years)

One
popular Navy brat got herself a sequel. Kimberly Willis Holt’s
Piper Reed: The Great Gypsy follows Piper Reed, Navy Brat,
continuing the small-scale adventures of Piper, a fourth grader whose
family keeps moving in service to her father’s military career.
They are now in Pensacola, but Chief (Piper and her sisters’ name
for their father) is away at sea. There’s plenty to keep Piper
and readers occupied, though: Christmas, plans for a pet show, a visit
to New Orleans. Mom breaks her leg, so Chief gets to come home early
— there’s never a dull moment. (8–10 years)

Not
just parents but grandparents might remember their first childhood encounter
with Michael Bond’s Paddington — the first book about the
bear from Darkest Peru, A Bear Called Paddington, was published
in 1958, and his last adventure was in 1979. He’s back again,
in Paddington Here and Now. As the title indicates, Paddington’s
London is up-to-date, with computers and the London Eye, but Paddington
remains his sturdy self — gracious, deeply engaged with life,
and nobody’s teddy bear. The book is good for readers in second
grade and up, but it’s also a great read-aloud for younger kids.
(7 years and up)

—Roger Sutton

Back
to school, for the first time

For new preschoolers and kindergartners, the first day of school
is an exciting and often nerve-wracking occasion. Here are a few books
to help prepare for the event.

To
ease separation anxieties, In My Heart by Molly Bang telegraphs
reassurance and love. A working mother and her preschooler may not
be together during the day, but no matter what Mom is doing (“. . . waiting
for the bus . . . reading the paper . . .”),
she tells her child: “You’re in my heart.” The authentic,
informal tone and warmly colored illustrations emphasize the richness
of the parent’s and child’s separate lives rather than
the difficulties of being apart. (2–4 years)

In
Robert Neubecker’s Wow! School!, a very brief text
(“Wow! Classroom!” “Wow! Teacher!”) and colorful,
full-to-bursting illustrations introduce youngsters to various aspects
of a typical school day. Neubecker’s enthusiastic approach allows
readers to take charge of a potentially overwhelming experience, making
what’s new seem familiar. (3–5 years)

Three
books specifically address what pre-kindergartners can expect on the
first day. In Kindergarten Rocks! by Katie Davis, Dexter
isn’t scared about starting kindergarten — his stuffed
dog Rufus is the nervous one. Older sister Jessie understands and
reassures Dexter that he’s going to have a great time. The humorous
art resembling kids’ crayon drawings is just right for this
comforting story. Anne Rockwell treads similar ground in Welcome
to Kindergarten, when a young boy and
his mother tour his new classroom and find it’s not so big and
scary after all. Rosemary Wells’s collection of forty-five vignettes
follows Emily, a little rabbit-child, through a whole year in My
Kindergarten. Wells draws on many iconic images of kindergarten
— first-day jitters, library visits — as well as traditional
subjects such as numbers, letters, and patterns. (all 3–5 years)

For more back-to-school books, as well as inspirational stories about
using books in the classroom, a homeschooler’s thoughts on kids
and reading, and anecdotes from writers about their own school days,
don’t miss the September/October issue of The Horn Book
Magazine. It’s our annual special issue, and this year
the topic is School. We offer practical advice about how to choose
a book for first-day fears and a quiz to test your skills in bringing
children and books together, and we reveal why Diana Wynne Jones has
sworn off school-visiting. Check with your local library next month,
or write to us for information about purchasing a copy for yourself.

And speaking of schools, we're happy to be adding a curricular component
to this newsletter with material from TeachingBooks.net, an online
multimedia collection of resources for teachers. For each issue of
Notes from the Horn Book, TeachingBooks.net is providing
our subscribers with free access to specially selected content from
their site. Just click on their logo below to find out more.